The Invisible Building

by Glenn C. Koenig, Webmaster at Town Wide Mall

(Note:  This story has been extensively revised since it was first created on 19 September.)

Maynard, MA - Maynard’s planning department recently added a page to the town’s web site asking for comments about a proposed housing development, to be built on a large parcel of available land within the town.  The page, entitled, “Maynard Kanso 40B (2024),” can be found at this link:
https://www.townofmaynard-ma.gov/536/3854/Maynard-Kanso-40B-2024
The page contains a brief description of the project, followed by a form in which residents may enter comments.  Below that is a list of 25 various documents that describe the project.  The deadline for comments is this Friday, October 4th.

Maynard town officials first learned of the proposed project on August 27th, only about a month ago, so there hasn’t been much time to prepare. Likewise, there has been little time for residents to become familiar with the project and the issues raised by the proposal.  However, the current comment period is just the first in a series of steps that must take place before the project can go forward.

Submitting Comments

The town is seeking comments from residents who expect to be directly impacted by this development.  I recently talked with Bill Nemser, Planning Director for Maynard.  He emphasized that general comments critical of affordable housing, taxes, or population density in Maynard are not what is needed at this stage.  That's because the comments collected are likely to go directly to the Massachusetts Housing Partnership (known as MHP), a quasi public organization that acts as a clearing house for projects of this type, state wide.  The MHP is already familiar with the overall situation with housing and land availability in Maynard, but wants to hear from residents who actually live near the property, who frequently drive on the roads near it, or otherwise would be directly impacted by the development.

In a recent letter, Planning Director Bill Nemser asks that commenters, "... please give an extra thought to ensure that initiatives the community has adopted are not unintentionally cast in a negative light that may hurt the town (i.e. creation of affordable housing, economic development efforts etc.)."
(for further information, see The Town's Role section, below.)

This news story is divided into individual sections, below:
• The Land - its location and characteristics
• The Proposed Development - what the development company wants to build
• The State's Role - How Massachusetts State Government is involved
• The Town's Role - What the town is doing to manage the situation
• Background and History - The story behind the law and affordability
• Commentary

The Land

The land, located at 182 Parker Street, borders on the Sudbury town line, at the southern edge of town.  Drivers headed down Route 27, toward Sudbury, just past Maynard Crossing (where Market Basket is located) are not likely to notice anything on the left side of the road, except trees and underbrush.  The satellite image and map, below, can help visualize the location.

In this image, the land is to the right (east) of Parker Street (Route 27), across from Carriage Lane (a small dead end street, visible at the very bottom center of the image). Maynard Crossing is visible at the upper left, with small orange dots to indicate the location of Market Basket and some of the other retailers there.

The network of curved roads and houses on the right, in the image above, are all in Sudbury.

This map shows the exact boundaries of the property, in red (actually  two separate parcels, to be joined together).  As in the above image, Maynard Crossing is at the top left, just above the Vose Hill neighborhood.  Note the various ponds in the surrounding area.

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The land, known to long time residents of Maynard as the "Cutting property," was recently put on the market by the family that owned it, members of whom previously resided in the single family house that is still standing there. As that house is set way back from the road, the parcel appears just to be open land.  This is in contrast to other recent projects in town, such as "Maynard Square," the new building now replacing the old Gruber furniture store, at 115 Main Street, right next to the CVS Pharmacy. From the time that building was torn down in May of 2022 (video here) (Beacon Villager story here), the public has had a close hand view of the progress there.

The land has been on the market for some time, but as the price was over $3 million, the town declined to purchase it, as no financial resources were available for an amount that large.

The Proposed Development

The project being proposed by developer, AvalonBay Communities, is currently known as "Kanso Maynard" in the documents they have submitted thus far. Despite the title of this news story, the project would consist of not one, but a cluster of buildings.

These buildings would be gathered around a private road, with access from Parker Street, similar to the way Deer Path leads from Powder Mill Road up into the "Deer Hedge Run" townhouse community.

In this image, looking south toward Sudbury, the buildings to the left of the road with brown colored roofs are the ones proposed; existing houses are shown at the right.  Sudbury neighbors are off at the left edge; Maynard Crossing is not shown, but is behind and to the right of this area.

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The list of documents shown on the town's web site are excerpts taken directly from the proposal submitted by the development company as a large spiral bound book.

The State's Role

The developers are interested in having their project approved under a provision in state law, known as "Chapter 40B," enacted decades ago in an attempt to streamline the creation of more housing units throughout the Commonwealth (see details in the Background section, below).
The purpose of the law is to alleviate the housing shortage that has persisted for over 50 years by now.  State law also defines what is meant by "affordable housing."  Towns with an insufficient percentage of affordable units, based on the law, must allow developers to build new housing with only minor oversight by town officials, if they qualify.  Towns with sufficient affordable units are exempt from the requirements under Chapter 40B, and are thus able to require developers to meet their local requirements as usual, instead.

The Town's Role

At the moment, the project is in the first stage, as shown in the illustration here.
The developer's plan (the document pictured above) along with comments from the town, will be submitted to the MHP, in order to determine if the project can proceed to the next step.

According to town officials, the town is nearing the 10% level of affordable units necessary to keep such projects under the town's control.  Even if the town can't reach that level now, if we can at least prove significant progress toward that goal, then we may qualify for a one year exemption from the Chapter 40B requirements.  This is known as establishing a "safe harbor."  For that to happen, enough new affordable units need to be deeded and on the market as soon as possible. Some units currently under construction may be completed in time to qualify, but this remains uncertain.

If that doesn't happen, and the town receives the "comprehensive permit application" (shown at the top of the "Deadline" column in the chart in the illustration here), then this entire sequence of events must be followed, in order, according to state law.
(Note: In the text, the "ZBA" is the town's Zoning Board of Appeals.  The "DHCP" is the state Department of Housing and Urban Development.)

So, why would the town be so concerned?  We could use more affordable housing units, right?  A new development would bring new tax revenue, at least initially.
In fact, Maynard has worked diligently over the years to develop a Master Plan, which already provides for more affordable housing.  There is an entire section of the town's web site devoted to the plan:
https://www.townofmaynard-ma.gov/229/Master-Plan
The overall idea is to manage development projects with the future in mind, rather than just build whatever comes along.  According to Planning Director Nemser, we have plenty of other areas that are suitable, as laid out in the plan.  The zoning map on the town's web site has the specific details:
https://www.townofmaynard-ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/232/Town-of-Maynard-Zoning-Map-PDF
The goal of the town is not to block developments such as this one, but to ensure that they are compatible with the overall layout of the town and it's supporting infrastructure.

The land where this project is proposed to be built is currently zoned for single family housing, whereas there are other areas that are zoned for multi-unit housing.  These zones take into account a number of factors, such as ground water levels, as well as the capacity of existing storm drains that feed into local streams and rivers, the water and sewer lines available, and traffic congestion on local roads.  A development project sited in an inappropriate zone risks straining this infrastructure unnecessarily.

Background and History

Chapter 40B:
For most new buildings in Maynard, a builder would typically apply for a building permit, then get the required approvals from various town boards and departments before going ahead.  However, for larger projects, developers have the option to bypass many of the town's requirements under a state law, known as "Chapter 40B."
The state enacted this law way back in 1969.  It is so well known and controversial, that it has its own Wikipedia article :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_Comprehensive_Permit_Act%3A_Chapter_40B
In essence, the state was trying to solve a huge problem:  Not enough housing units, causing prices to increase faster than the wages and salaries that were being earned by the state's residents.
So, what was preventing more housing units from being built?  The cause seemed to be that many towns had zoning laws that effectively blocked multi-unit housing in favor of single family housing.  There are 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts, each one with it's own unique requirements.
The attitude among many people in the towns was, "Build multifamily housing somewhere else, we want to keep the 'small New England town" feel in our town.'  But this meant that many of the people that towns needed to thrive could no longer afford to live there.  People with middle-class incomes, such as teachers, shop clerks, restaurant workers, tradespeople, artists, the self-employed, the retired, and so forth, were all being priced out of the housing market.
The state decided to enact this law to give qualified builders a "fast track" to build multifamily housing, if they included "affordable" units in their projects.  That was the origin of Chapter 40B.

Affordable Units:
Potential home buyers who cannot afford to buy housing at market rates may apply to purchase a unit designated as "affordable." This means that they can purchase at a reduced price, in exchange for certain restrictions.  Applicants must have income and financial resources that fall below established thresholds in order to qualify, but still robust enough to qualify for a home loan and cover the typical expenses of home ownership.  Most such buyers are "middle class" who have local jobs but whose salaries are insufficient to afford market rate housing in the area.
Once they buy a property, they must sign a deed that restricts them from selling it later at market rate, which would otherwise gain them a substantial profit.

Commentary

From what I can determine from the conversations I've had with public officials, the intent of town government is to continue the support for creation of a reasonable number of affordable housing units within the town.  The main question is how and where to build them, so that they work well in the town overall.
Certainly there will be some impacts from a slight increase in population.  We must be careful to avoid overtaxing our fresh water system, for example.  On the other hand, we have enough capacity in our school system for more students.  Our cost per pupil could actually decrease slightly.  We also have enough additional capacity at our wastewater treatment plant.

As I see it, there are many advantages to have a reasonable supply of affordable housing. The people who are waiting for a chance to live here are likely to contribute to the overall vitality of Maynard as a whole.

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